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Volunteers Needed as Hospice Expands Vital ‘Support at Home’ Service

Birmingham St Mary’s is encouraging sensitive and caring individuals to sign up as ‘Support at Home’ volunteers – and offer a listening ear to local people living with life-limiting illness.

The independent hospice is hosting a ‘Volunteer Recruitment Day’ on Friday 20 July, to recruit helpers who can give up their spare time to support others across Sandwell and Birmingham.

The open day is a chance to find out more about the Support at Home service, as well as what a volunteer role involves. It will also be an opportunity to meet some of the people who are receiving vital support from the service, to understand how it is already making a real difference to them.

Support at Home, which launched in July last year, sees volunteers visit people in their own homes to offer friendly companionship, support with correspondence and assistance in finding services that could provide additional aid. It also offers loved ones and carers support, by allowing them to take a break for a few hours each week.

In just under a year, the service has grown significantly and is already expanding so that volunteers can now make visits during evenings and at weekends. This is why the hospice is on the lookout for big-hearted volunteers to get involved – as it wants to continue to grow the service so it can care and support even more people.

Carol Murphy, a Support at Home Volunteer at Birmingham St Mary’s, said: “Volunteering for Support at Home is such a rewarding role. I visit a family once a week and we’ve built up a brilliant relationship – we share the same sense of humour and I usually end each visit by having a good laugh.

“Volunteering only takes two hours out of my week but I know it makes such a difference to the people I visit. The hospice has been incredibly supportive and it’s great to be a part of such a friendly team.”

Hasun Tayyub, Support at Home Lead at Birmingham St Mary’s, said: “Support at Home is a fantastic initiative, offering much-needed social support to the people we care for. We are finding that more people want to use this service but we can only support them if we have more volunteers.

“The open day is a great opportunity to come down to the hospice and find out how you can get involved, as well as chat to people who are already volunteering. Whether you can give up just one hour a week or one day, the role can be really flexible to suit your lifestyle.”

The Support at Home Volunteer Recruitment Day is taking place between 10am and 3pm, in which people are welcome to drop by at any time. It will be hosted at the hospice, which is based at 176 Raddlebarn Road, Selly Park, B29 7DA.

No qualifications and no former care experience is necessary, as all volunteers will receive expert training before visiting people. To find out more, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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